Draining the Fish Pond

Nick and Tik have three ponds on their property. Apparently it's important to drain a pond every once in awhile and we just happened to be around (I mean here in Udon) when one of their ponds needed to be drained. One reason they drain the pond is to let the sun kill all the bad bacteria. Another reason is to complete some repairs to the pond sides, etc. The coolest reason is to harvest the fish. They invited us over to see the big production and it was so interesting and fun.

There were two pumps and by the time we got there, the water was pretty low. It was crazy to see all the fish in the pond, all confused and jumping out of the water. There were a couple of official fishermen with nets, but near the end, everyone just waded in and started catching the fish with their hands.

Nick couldn't remember all the types of fish he had stocked the pond with but as they came out, he described the different species and what made them unique. Some of the fish have no gills but rather crude lungs. This enables them to burrow into the mud and still breathe. A few a the fish that came out were bigger than Ezra.

Needless to say, both Ezra and Eli were in heaven. They got to see fish after fish being pulled out of the pond, and then they got to touch them, and then they got to see how they were cut up and cleaned, and then they got to dive into the mud to try and catch their own fish. Ezra caught a few with his bare hands.

Eli watched in fascination as fish after fish was cut up and cleaned. When I got around to him he had little bits of fish, scales, and little drops of blood all over his shirt.

This is Tik (Nick's wife). She was amazing! We couldn't believe how skilled she was at grabbing the big fish out of the mud and lugging them to the buckets.

I love little Eli standing in the mud.

Here comes David with a catch. He was really glad he wore his white shirt.